Amazing Plants: Weeds, Wildflowers and Wellness! An Herbal Study Program for Children Session 1

Session layout: Each 4-week session follows the same general sequence:

Week 1: Plant Lore/Meet a Plant

Week 2: Food/Crafts

Week 3: Making Medicines

Week 4: Growing a Garden

Week 1: Plant Lore/Meet a Plant. In this session, we’ll explore many areas of plant knowledge: the basics of Botany, the science of plants; the history of plant medicine; how native people use plants for food and healing, and more. Then we’ll learn about a specific plant: what it looks like, how it tastes, the history of its use, how it likes to grow, and the many things we can do with the plant we’ve just met.

Week 2: Food/Crafts. In this session, we’ll see how plants make up the foundation of our diet, as even when we eat foods that come from animals, those animals eat plants, too! We will learn to identify the different kinds of nutrients in our diet, how to make better food choices so that we can be strong and healthy, and how to make tasty snacks from plants. We’ll also look at some of our native plants that are good wilderness food sources. And we’ll get our hands on plants, making art and crafts from plant materials, from tie-dye to weaving to papermaking and more.

Week 3: Making Medicines. In this session, we’ll see how common herbs & spices can be healing and promote wellness, and how we can use everyday foods found in our kitchen and gardens for first aid, to fight colds and flu, heal wounds, strengthen our immune system, and even make us smarter! We’ll make various types of plant medicines, from teas to syrups to salves to baths—inside and out, plants make great medicine!

Week 4: Growing a Garden. In this session, we’ll start seeds of herbs commonly used in cooking as well as in healing. We’ll discuss how seeds grow and what they need, how to care for the plants as they grow, and the different ways to start seeds (did you know, some seeds need to be frozen before they’ll sprout, and some even need fire?). We’ll also cover other methods of plant propagation, learning all the ways in which plants make new plants.

This series will run in 4 week blocks, every other month. The sessions will repeat, but the herbs and projects will change, so that repeat attendees will learn something new each month. These classes are only available as a series, no single classes are available at this time.

This series is for students ages 8-12, with basic reading, writing and simple math abilities. Younger children, or children for whom these are challenging, may find parts of this course frustrating for them, however, we defer to parents as the best judges of their children's abilities.

Class fee is $60 for every 4-week session. Family discount of $10 for each additional sibling. Class size is limited to 10 children only.

For more information, or to register, call Green Wisdom at (562) 591-8700.